Football Food For Thought / Dave Farrar / 08 October 2008 /

He's not a sexy name or character and he turned the air blue within days of arriving at Newcastle but Joe Kinnear's top flight record is good and former players speak wonders of him, so why is he such a big price to be next permanent Newcastle manager, asks Dave Farrar.

You must have read or heard it by now: Joe Kinnear's outburst when faced by the North East press was one of the email forwards of the season so far. Now, this is a family column which refuses to include any bad words (or, for that matter, any pictures of Jan Koller) and so I'll presume that you have at least a rough idea of what he said.

What interested me was the reaction to Kinnear's appointment and to what I'll refer to from now on as the NHI. (The Niall Hickman incident.) There seems to be a feeling that Kinnear is a manager from a bygone age: that giving him the Newcastle job is yet another example of the chaos at St James's Park, and the "clueless Cockney Mafia".

That perception is reflected in the Next Newcastle Manager market on Betfair, with Kinnear trading at [13.0], at least twice the price that a caretaker manager would normally be to claim his stand-in job permanently. And yet, if you look behind the swearing and the brilliantined image, you'll find that Kinnear is worthy of plenty more respect than he's getting at the moment.

In his seven years at Wimbledon, he lost only 109 of 364 games in charge, and built up a win percentage of over 35%, while taking a club with a tiny transfer budget to 6th and 9th placed finishes in the Premier League. Kevin Keegan is the fans' choice to replace himself, and favourite in the Betfair market at [2.5], and yet, since returning to the club in January, he has managed only 6 wins in 21 games. Kinnear's Premier League record is remarkably similar to Keegan's, and yet one is a Messiah, the other a pariah. Strange, isn't it?

One quality that both of these men have over some of the other candidates on the shortlist is experience. Of those at the head of the betting, neither Gus Poyet [17.0] nor Alan Shearer [18.0] has ever managed a club, while Steve Bruce [27.0], David Moyes [48.0], Frank Rijkaard [44.0] and Didier Deschamps [46.0] all lag behind Kinnear in terms of top division matches.

Kinnear's experience has already been brought to bear on a poor and injury hit Newcastle squad: in the second half against Everton on Sunday, they played as well as they have all season, and the players seemed to do something which they haven't for a while - they cared. That performance fits in with what many of Kinnear's old players say about him.

Let's leave out Robbie Earle and Warren Barton, both of whom Kinnear begged us to listen to during the NHI. John Scales says that he enjoyed his time with Kinnear, and highlighted that "his strength is motivating players and getting the best out of them." Scales also talks of how good Kinnear is in training sessions, making the club a fun place to be. Matthew Spring played under him at Luton, and even in the manager's brief time there, Spring talks of an "infectious personality" which "gets everyone going at the club." Just the man for Newcastle.

Of course, there is also criticism that Kinnear had a period out of the game after his Wimbledon success, but it wasn't because of some Keegan-like caprice. The man had a heart attack which nearly killed him. Not a sign of weakness, but one of great strength.

Kinnear's problem is clearly his image: he's simply not sexy enough as a name or as a character in today's football world. And yet look at the managers who are currently having success around Europe and tell me that Kinnear's profile doesn't match theirs.

Whether older managers or mavericks, a lot of out of the ordinary coaches are having a ball this season. Martin Jol, Javier Aguirre, Ralf Rangnick, Delio Rossi, Gigi Del Neri, Edy Reja, the list goes on. All have required a certain leap of faith by their club, which has been richly rewarded.

I can't advocate backing Kinnear to be the next Newcastle manager, as I don't think that anyone will have the wit and foresight to appoint him. I do think that he'll do an excellent job while he is there, and will be laying Newcastle to be relegated at [5.4], until Newcastle's new owners decide to pacify the fans, give the job to another pipedreamer, and let Joe Kinnear and all of his qualities stride off into the sunset.

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